How’s the tour going?

It’s going very well, beyond all expectations. So far. I always expect them to be fairly average but this one’s turn out really good. There’s been a lot of people coming tot the shows and the band has been sober enough to play the songs with a certain amount of professionalism which I enjoy. We’ve made skateboards.

When were you last in Darwin, and why’s been so long since you were here?

Well, it’s a long way away, but that’s no excuse, and we’re very negligent that we haven’t been up there recently. I’m looking forward to getting up there actually, it’s been ages, I can’t even remember, was it Bass In The Grass the last time we were here? [Yes] Yeah, so it should be a triumphant return.

Tell us about the new album and what was it like working with Bill Stevenson?

It was a lot of fun. He was a bit of a slave driver which was quite good for us and we didn’t slack off at all. He was quite brutal especially with my vocals. As soon as I’d sing something he’d be straight into the microphone “That’s s**t, do it again, it was s**t, do it again, do it again.” It was good to be kind of pushed a bit and sing and play to the best of our abilities. Yeah, it’s good. It’s a real production line over there. They really know their s**t. It’s good to work with people who are really so enthusiastic about that sort of music. [Laughs]. It’s kind of what they’re into so it’s great.

So you guys are big Descendants fans?

Yeah, massive. Like a dream come true working with that guy. Yeah, it was really something else. The Descendants were actually rehearsing in one of the rooms, and because we were sleeping in the studio we were woken up at about 9am by the Descendants rehearsing in a room next door to us, which is very exciting.

So what was it like being a part of the Descendants first ever Australian tour?

Yeah, that was cool too. I never thought I’d see that band play live so it was really great to be involved and I guess that was the tour when we kind of approached Bill and said can we come over your house and record a record and he said pay money and we said ok.

So what do you think of the support acts you’ve got down for the Darwin gigs?

I’m excited, I hear we got three support acts so it’ll be like a mini local Darwin Festival. Yeah, I reckon they sound pretty good for me.

So how did you go about selecting the bands?

Uhh, we put the band names up on the wall and we threw turds at it and whichever that band name had the most turd on it at the end of it got support. So Gordy (the drummer) actually threw his own turd at the wall this time and it spread out over three bands so we had to pick all of them.

The Darwin gig is a licensed all ages gig, do you do a lot of licensed gigs or do you prefer 18+ gigs?

Yeah, it’s all ages licensed and everyone gets a look in, so that is, you know, my favourite type of gig. So if you’re a hundred years old you can come along and enjoy it or if you’re three and a fan of the band you can come along.

Anything else?

You should definitely come along to the show at the ski club. It’ll be the night of your life, I can guarantee 100% that it’ll be the night of your life or you get triple your money back, but that may or may not actually happen. It’s going to be good.

FRENZAL RHOMB at the Darwin Ski Club

Supported by Unbroken Expanse, Aborted Jesus Milkshake, and Burrfoot

CHECK OUT THE EVENT ON FACEBOOK (click here!)

Now in its 23rd year, Voiceworks is a national, quarterly magazine that features exciting new writing by young Australian writers. It presents a unique opportunity for young writers and artists (under 25) to publish their poetry, short stories, articles and comics, illustrations, drawings and photos. It is produced entirely by young people.

Every submission to the magazine, whether it is published or not, receives personalised feedback from a dedicated volunteer team of editors (also aged under 25) based at Express Media. Every young writer published in the magazine is paid for their contribution.

Submissions for the final Voiceworks issue of 2011, themed Play, close on Sunday September 18. For more information, go to www.expressmedia.org.au/voiceworks/index.php/submissions/

Express Media is a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to provide support and development opportunities for young people in writing and media. Based at the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas in Melbourne, Express Media is recognised as the peak organisation for young writers in Australia. All the money received from subscriptions helps ensure we are able to provide more opportunities for young people to get noticed, get feedback, and get published.

To find out more about Voiceworks or Express Media, or to submit work, please visit www.expressmedia.org.au or contact their CEO, Joe Toohey, at generalmanager@expressmedia.org.au or on (03) 9094 7886.

“And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, direct to you from Kumamoto, Japan! The Umbilical Brothers!”

The smoke dissipated and we heard yelling from off stage.

“S***, Dave, Darwin.

What?

Darwin!

Oh! Get the bags!”

Through much imaginary scampering, they hailed an imaginary cab, caught an imaginary plane and to reduce show spoilers and a long story, they wound up at heaven’s gate before making it to the theatre.

I don’t remember much of the plot as I was laughing most of the time. And when I wasn’t laughing I was either applauding or looking around in confusion as the brothers chased each other around.

The skill involved in putting on such an enjoyable show was astounding.

The lighting was bright and friendly. They used white and yellow for indoors, turning up the brightness for outdoors; green for a park setting and flashes of blue for whenever their lightsabers struck. Yes, they had LIGHTSABERS! Win!

For the voice of God and everyone in heaven, the echo effect was used to great effect.

Did I mention Shane’s amazing skill of making foley with his mouth? No I didn’t and that sounds slightly like a euphemism. What I mean is Dave does most of the mime and action and Shane puts sound to it. It’s great!

Although I was aware that I was in the audience at a play, Dave and Shane successfully brought us into their world, not so much smashing through the ‘fourth wall’ as installing a revolving door. For example, at one point Shane is telling Dave that something he has done is not funny and Dave retorts ‘Well they think it’s pretty funny.’

Look, what I’m trying to say in a non-boring way is this:

If you ever get a chance to borrow a DVD, watch old T.V footage or even see the Umbilical Brothers live – take it!

For all of you who are getting ready to vote, are or starting to become interested in the way our country is run, here is some basic information about the Government and how your vote works.

There are three “arms” of Federal Government. These are;

• the legislature (or parliament, made up of the House of Reps and the Senate.) is responsible for debating and voting on new laws.
• the executive, which is responsible for enacting and upholding the laws established by the legislature.
• the judiciary (the high court and federal courts) is the legal arm of the Commonwealth Government. It is independent of the other two arms, and is responsible for enforcing the laws and deciding whether the other two arms are acting within their powers.

When we talk about politics, the Prime Minister and voting, we are usually referring to the Legislature.

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federation, and that means we have a Federal Government and State Governments. State and Federal Governments do different things, and what these things are are outlined in the Australian Constitution.  States also have their own constitutions, and if they want to pass a law the Federal Government doesn’t like, it can be overturned. There are State Elections and Federal Elections (there are also Council Elections) and if you are 18 or over you HAVE to vote in them!

Federal Parliament is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Reps is all of the individuals who we (the general public) vote in to represent us, they are our voices and are elected by preferential voting. Preferential voting is how you vote in a Federal election: you are given a ballot with a number of candidates for your electorate, you will then assign each of these candidates a number, 1 being your favourite choice, 2 being your second favourite, and so on. This is very important, so pay attention- sometimes who you vote for second can be just as important as who you vote for as first.  If one candidate gets more than 50% of number 1 votes, they are the automatic winner, if this does not happen (which happens a lot) then the candidate with the least amount of votes is excluded, and if you voted for them then your second preference is counted as your first preference. This process is repeated until one candidate has more than 50% of the vote.

The senate does not use preferential voting, they use proportional representation, which is very complicated. The main thing you need to know about the senate is that they are NOT voted in directly by the public, instead they allocate senate seats to parties in proportion to their overall vote.

Political parties are like teams that Politicians can be part of. Australia has four main political parties.  The Australian Labor Party (ALP) is a social democratic party founded by the Australian labour movement (that’s who is in charge right now). The Liberal Party is a party of the centre right. The National Party of Australia, formerly the Country Party, is a conservative party representing rural interests.  The Australian Greens is a left-wing and environmentalist party. Being a member of a party means that you will generally agree with the policies your party agrees with, and disagree with the things your party disagrees with. Some politicians prefer to make up their own minds, and are voted in with no party, as an Independent. Often the big parties must rely on convincing the Independents to join their views for laws to be passed, especially in the Senate.

Something that lots of people who are new to voting don’t understand is that in Australia the public does not vote in our Prime Minister. The Prime minister is a candidate, like everyone else, who must be voted in in their particular electorate. The candidate who is chosen to be Prime Minister is NOT voted in by the public when we vote, the political parties elect their own ministers and Prime Minister. Lately lots of people have been saying that Julia Gillard is not our “real” Prime Minister because we did not vote for her, without realising that we didn’t vote for Kevin Rudd either, we voted for the ALP.

So, go enrol! It’s your country, and it’s your vote!

While you’re at it check out Count Me In

Since 2008, the Chinese government has been running the Hanyu Qiao Chinese Bridge Chinese Speaking Competition. The competition gives students learning Chinese a chance to show their skills in Chinese speaking, general knowledge about China and their cultural knowledge and performances.

Twenty students competed for the chance to represent Australia at the finals of the competition in China. Three of them came from Darwin, one of them was yours truly, and the other two were Gabriel Heines and Jeremy Lung.

All of the contestants performed incredibly well, with topics ranging from the humdrum families and activities to international travels and Chinese censorship. There were four winners, and while unfortunately no one from the Territory won, Gabriel won a special mention for his speech, in which he talked about the history of the Chinese in Darwin. Good work Gabriel!

If you are learning Chinese, this competition is a great opportunity to show off your Chinese. And to those who are not, remember to consider learning Chinese due to Australia’s (and Darwin’s) proximity to China and its prominence in the world.

All of a sudden, it was 11.55 and it was time for shaving my hair! I walked outside and met up with my mum. She came to watch, and she had brought a camera to film it. I handed the money into the teacher in charge, handed my school bag to my friend and sat in the chair. There were so many people surrounding the designated area and all my friends were cheering me on. I looked at the teacher who was shaving my hair, Ms Deacon, she was preparing herself, put the smock over my shoulders and positioned my hair. The presenter, Darcy, introduced myself and the crowd cheered, Ms Deacon whispered in my ear ‘Would you like it at a number 3, 2, or 1. ‘ She was talking about how close I wanted the shave. I chose 3, I still had some hair on my head. And within what seemed like half an hour, but was actually a few minutes she started chopping away at my hair. I looked up at my friends and they were pulling scared, exaggerated faces. I felt my hair, it wasn’t there, When I looked back at my hand it was covered in tiny little shaved hairs.  Darcy applauded me and the crowd cheered again, he asked me how I was feeling. I was shaking, I was a bit nervous,  I didn’t respond to what he said and jumped into the crowd to my friend who was holding my bag. My friends came up to me, rubbing my hair, hugging me, and congratulating me.

Still to this day, even though it’s only been a few weeks since it happened, people still come up to me, patting my hair, and telling me what I did was so fantastic.  All together, I raised $448 dollars.

I hope the money I raised helps someone out, and maybe even saves a life. I personally did this because of the people from my past I know that have passed away because of cancer, cancer is a terrible thing.

Come take part in a human tide-line to mark the potential sea-level rise we’re facing if we don’t reduce emissions.  You can also bring a fish made form recycled materials with your own message to government on the back.

10 am Saturday 24th October 2009

Jingili Footbridge, Trower Road by the Water Gardens

Find out more www.climateactiondarwin.org/350

an intiative of: Climate Action Darwin – Top End Transition Towns – COOLmob – The NT Environment Centre – Charles Darwin University Environment Collective

FOR MORE INFO:

www.350.org
COOLmob

If you stuck around and watched ABC television for 5 minutes after Spicks and Specks , chances are that you will have heard of or seen a show known as Hungry Beast.  The ABC has attempted to fill the 9pm spot with many different shows over the years and it seems that the viewer community has a very fickle opinion of what should be put there.  The latest bid at filling the spot in between a great Australian game show and an intriguing American drama is Hungry Beast which has a very “by youth, for youth” motif about it which makes it very appealing for younger audiences.  However, questions have been raised about what the shows primary purpose is and if you read the website, it seems even the creators haven’t got a clue as to what exactly Hungry Beast aims to do as a T.V show.

Lack of purpose aside for one moment, I personally found this show to be very engaging and entertaining particularly in its investigation (and satire) of Australian media in the first episode.  I admit that I may represent a small minority who found meaning in the show’s exploration of the Iran issue or the boastful way they presented their hoax story within the first three minutes of airtime, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say that this show contains something for everyone.  From the war in Afghanistan, to the inefficiency of Australian media, to the viability of preventing the extinction of pandas, it is almost impossible to watch this show and not feel some strong opinion on at least one of the topics covered by its eclectic presenters.

Understandably, when I checked twitter feeds minutes after the conclusion of its premiere, the show was received with mixed emotions. The show bears characteristics and traits that the average Australian viewer would recognise from other shows such as the Chaser’s War, Media Watch and even Compass and this strange combination of messages and techniques can lead to a loss of direction in the ‘plot’ or ‘theme’ of the show.  While some found it to be engaging and entertaining, others were somewhat confused by the varying tone of the show and asked “is it a comedy, or a current affairs show?”  A question that the producers of Hungry Beast have left quite deliberately unanswered partly in order to keep viewers interested, and partly because they find it very difficult to answer precisely.

The closest explanation to the truth is that Hungry Beast is a work in progress and the ‘purpose’ of the show has been left up to the viewers to determine.  This is why the Hungry Beast website has left spaces where you can provide feedback as to what parts you like, and what parts you find boring.  This method of trial and error can be very effective in shaping a television show that caters perfectly to its target demographics’ needs.

That being said, there are a number of drawbacks that result in the show’s existence entirely depending on the viewers support.  Hungry Beast is still in its early stages and heavily dependent on viewer feedback in order to shape its direction based on what the demographic likes and dislikes.  This could prove a difficult task as if the audience is not immediately excited by what they see, they may not feel the need to take the extra time to tell the producers what they’re doing wrong and the show could continue on its aimless path round and round in circles.  On the other hand, if the show has created enough ‘buzz’ and excitement, they could receive equal amounts of differing opinions on which direction to take the show. Hence, these early stages of release are very critical for the survival of Hungry Beast.

Logistics aside, this new show is engaging and entertaining with a mixture of editorial, satire, current affairs and reporting that has not been seen before which makes Hungry Beast somewhat of a unique and endangered species.  If you’re tired of watching Hey, Hey It’s Saturday encores on a Wednesday night and you’re looking for a show that both challenges and entertains you,  Hungry Beast is definitely worth watching, and commenting on in order to keep the spirit of new and fresh television alive and well nourished.

-A Concerned Citizen

I constructed a list. It’s short but if you manage to achieve them all, then you’ve experienced a lot more than most people.

• Scuba in the Great Barrier Reef.
• Learn another language and actually use it.
• Participate in a Japanese Tea Ceremony.
• Go skiing/snowboarding.
• Go Skydiving.
• Volunteer abroad for a month
• Dive with a whale shark.
• Travel India by train.
• Set foot on each of the seven continents including Antarctica because then you can truly call yourself a world traveller.
• Ride something bigger than a horse. Like an elephant. Trekking through the jungle on the back of an elephant will surely be something you wil remember forever.
• Participate in the world’s biggest water fight during Thailand’s ‘New Year festivities’ (Songkran).
• Participate in a carnival parade in Brazil. You haven’t had a good night out until you’ve been to one of the biggest parties of all time.
• Participate in ‘The Burning Man’ festival. People who’ve been to the festival say that: “Trying to explain Burning Man to someone who has never been is like trying to explain colour to a blind person”
• Travel to Germany to experience “Love parade.” It’s one of the biggest festivals, attendance-wise on the planet.
• Cross a glacier on foot. These natural wonders are disappearing fast and it’s an adventure that future generations will probably not be able to experience